ABC News Blotter- Web Design

The screen real estate on the Blotter by Brian Ross isn’t used very well. There is only about 5% content on the page’s view, when it should really be closer to 80% and at least over 50%. I would also say it has way too much space dedicated to navigation, which takes up nearly half the page.

The load time is good on my computer, using my personal broadband internet at home. It loads within the desired 1 second, but because of all the pictures on the homepage, I don’t think it would do the same with dial-up internet or even a connection that was shared with more computers. The biggest problem for load would probably be the video link bar towards the top that continually changes to different videos. Extras like this are not only a nuisance to people trying to read the links, but could possibly slow down navigation on the site

The only advertisement on the screen is one for a Brian Ross video, so at least it’s related. However, on my screen (which is only 13 in.) you can see the top of a Rockport advertisement that on a larger screen may be fully in view.

I think some of the links add to the site because they go to full news stories and other news shows within ABC- there are a lot of links to other pages within ABC News. However, there is a scrolling bar that links to videos where half of them are entertainment-related. There is also a link to Jon Gosselin, which is disturbing. There are so many navigation links it seems to take away from the content. I feel viewers would just get distracted and start navigating to other pages.

All of the texts and fonts seem to load and display fine on the webpage. There are not excessive design extras that bog down a browser, aside from pictures. The text colors make the site look professional. They are simply blue, black and red. I think a lot of the design elements are there, they just aren’t focusing on the content they should be. Pictures are utilized to catch the viewer’s attention more than actual text.

I think frames and white space are both used fairly well on this site. The frames separate information to create boxes and help your eyes move over the content, however little there may be. However, in a couple places I think lines and frames are a little unnecessary and can crowd the site. The frames are nice around the advertising space because it separates it. I do feel the space could look bigger and more manageable if a couple of the frames and lines were removed.

Link: http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter